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Passenger tries to open plane door mid-flight
cnn.com — BERLIN, Germany (AP) -- Two drunken British women went on a rampage on a charter plane, hitting one flight attendant with a bottle of vodka and trying to open a cabin door as the aircraft was cruising over Austria at 10,000 meters (32,800 feet), police said Saturday.
DJClo1988- 7 diggs
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- SpiritOfRock, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1I'm not really an expert on the science of this, but it's been mentioned around me a few times. If someone were to open the plane door, would it suck everyone in the plane who wasn't wearing their seatbelts out through the door?
- whiteb, on 07/28/2008, -0/+0Okay.
Planes physics 101.
Plane doors are DESIGNED to *NOT* be opened at cruising altitudes. Planes are POSITIVELY pressurized, meaning the way the door is designed, the POSITIVE pressure, presses down on the door to maintain a seal. Sure you can try, but I have yet to see a person pry open a door that has around 20 Tonnes of air weight pressing against it. Watch a hostess close the door next time, she pulls the door, it swings closed and actually *PUSHES* the door closed from the inside, then locks it. (and then the captain says "Cabin Crew, Doors to Automatic".
#2, the correct term, in case of Rapid depressurization, due to the door being opened (if a person COULD pull the door against 20 tonnes of pressure), is *PUSHED*, as the POSITIVE air pressure, rushes to fill the void, of LESSER pressure. So therefor a person not SECURELY restrained, would be *PUSHED* out. This is why the Safety announcement recommends when you are not moving around the cabin, please try to keep your seatbelt fastened.
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